Dyeing method and bath



Patented Oct. 5, 193"? t UNITED srA'rgs PATENT OFFICE No Drawing. Application July 21, 1934, Serial No. 736,375. Renewed April 6, 1937 6 Claims. (01. 8-6) The present invention isa continuation in part Up to the present time there has not been of. that disclosed in my application Ser. No. found a satisfactory quick acting dye for such 577,866, filed November 28, 1931. materials as sequin material, various types of The invention aims to provide an improved cellulose acetate material, felt, velvet, straw, silk dye bath and method of dyeing which makes it and the like, but the extraordinary action of the possible to rapidly dye various materials, such dye bath of my invention enables it to act satisas animal or vegetable fibers and cellulose acefactorily and withgreat speed in dyeing these tates. and other fabrics.

In the use of the improved method and bath, I have discovered that by adding to the dye 10 the dyeing operation is greatly expedited, requirbath a substantial quantity of cellosolve (ethyll0 ing under my invention a matter of minutes, ene glycol monoethyl ether), it is possible to where heretofore hours had been required, other completely dissolve normally insoluble dyes and conditions remaining the same. particularly dyes such as have been used on cel- A further feature of the invention is the selulose acetate and other organic derivatives of curing of an immediate fixation of the dye in'the cellulose, which dyes are insoluble, but miscible 15 articles whereby they can be withdrawn from in water. Better results are obtained if acetone the bath and compared for correct color without is also used in the bath, but the use of acetone waiting, as required with the methods and baths is not essential. heretofore generally used. As one modification of the invention, suitable It 'has long been the aim of textile and dye for use in dyeing organic derivatives of cellulose, 20 organizations to develop a cold water dye, that is, I may incorporate in the bath, as disclosed in a. dyewhich could be mixed with cold water so my prior'application, a preparation having apas to immediately form a bath, which could be proximately the following composition: A ounce immediately used for dyeing purposes. They of a coloring material, such as a basic or acid have also sought such a dye which would fix dye; 4 ounces of a dye solvent preferably Celitself instantly in the fabric upon a simple imlosolve (ethylene glycol monoethyl ether); 3 mersion of the article in the bath of short duraounces of distilled water; 1 ounce of acetic acid; tion. It has also been sought to produce a dye 1 ounce of powdered alum; and 8 ounces of a or dyeing preparation which would enable the dye solvent, preferably acetone. The above quick drying of the dyed article followed immepreparation may be added to a dye bath in any 30 diately by ironing and other handling, the color suitable proportion depending upon the depth having become fi dd lr g e y It is of color which is desired. The quantity of the apparent that a dye preparation such as set out preparation which is to be added to the dye bath above would effect an enormous saving in dyeing may be determined by immersing and withoperations. drawing a sample of the material to be dyed. 35

In the p p a n f my mpr v y h, The acetic acid and the powdered alum erthe p r merely eS d s, er i form the function of setting the color rapidly in after described, d ediat ly dips t e ar c the article being dyed, and the large proportion be y into the bath and h removes the of acetone lends great penetrability to the dye 40 s m N0 ri in i q d end s s as the solution or bath, and the Cellosolve (ethylene 4o ab is y it will be found that the color is glycol monoethyl ether) evenly. distributes the fast against light, hot water, the effects of irondye and its coloring effect upon the article being ing, and other influences. dyed.

It has been shown in laundries, that it was The acetone acts as a retarding agent to possible to iron dyed linens and curtains imeliminate over dyeing and as a leveling agent to 45 mediately-upon removing these articles from the insure an even dyeing or color effect on the maextractor, and that no streaking or loss of color terial treated. The Cellosolvejf (ethylene glycol was noted. monoethyl ether) when used acts as a solvent It will be observed that the feature of the infor the dye and as a softener for the material.

vention providing fixation of the color immediate- Thus the instantaneous character of the opera- 50 ly upon drying enables the comparison of the tions of the dyeing preparation and the uniformdried article with samples of the desired color ity of improved results secured are rendered posimmediately upon removing the article from the sible and efiicient. bath, making it unnecessary to delay to ascertain In preparing the above mentioned ingredients 5 the matching of the desired C O to form the dye bath, the Cellosolve (ethylene 5 glycol monoethyl ether) and powdered alum are mixed with distilled water and brought to the boiling point; the dye, acid and acetone are then added. The dye preparation thus produced is mixed with approximately equal parts 'of water to form the dye bath which, it will be seen, contains a predominant amount of water. The dye bath itself need not be brought to the boiling point and in fact the dyeing operations are efiectively carried on in a relatively cold bath.

My invention pertains particularly to the use of a dye which is normally insoluble and immiscible in water or a dye such as is used for dyeing artificial silks, such as cellulose acetate, and which is normally insoluble, but miscible with water. Such dyes are made soluble in water by the addition to the dye bath of cellosolve (ethylene glycol monoethyl ether). For dyeing many materials I may merely add acetone to the bath and do not require Cellosolve (ethylene glycol monoethyl ether), but in such cases I have found that the amount of acetone used must be equal to substantially 10% of the amount of water. Such a bath would be suitable for dyeing materials such as silk, wool, felt (such as that used in felt hats), and the like. To the bath I may add any suitable mordants, such as acetic acid in dyeing silk, or sulfuric acid or Glaubers salt when dyeing wool. The piece goods or'other article dyed is merely immersed in a relatively cold bath and then immediately withdrawn and allowed to dry. Such cold immersion and dyeing greatly reduces or practically eliminates the shrinkage hazard which invariably follows in the case of dyeing operations involving the boiling of material dyed.

In dyeing cellulose acetates, such as artificial taffetas and celanese with a dye which is nor-'- mally insoluble in water, I regard it of importance to include in the bath of dye water an amount of acetone equal to about 10% of the amount of water, and an amount of Cellosolve (ethylene glycol monoethyl ether) which would be substantially greater than the amount of acetone,

' asuitable mordant or fixing agent such as Glaubers salt being included in the bath as above. For materials other than cellulose acetates the amount of Cellosolve (ethylene glycol monoethyl ether) in the bath will range from 10% to 90% of. the amount of acetone. The proportion of cellosolve (ethylene glycol monoethyl ether) used will thus depend somewhat on the character of the dye material, the color desired and the weight of material.

While ordinarily in dyeing according to my improved method and with my improved dye baths, boiling is not required, it is to be understood that it is also within my invention to carry out the dyeing operation in which a boiling bath quires from one to two hours; I can secure satistactory results by immersion in the bath for an interval of approximately ten or fifteen minutes. Practically all materials can be dyed by my method within half an hour. Shrinkage of the material is thus effectively prevented.

Experience with the method and the dye bath disclosed herein has demonstrated that the use of approximately 10% of acetone in the water bath results in effecting great economy. Tests have shown that where such proportion of. acetone is used over dyeing is avoided and an enormous amount of material can be dyed without depleting the bath of the dye; whereas, other conditions remaining the same, but without such percentage of acetone, the bath is quickly rendered unfit for further use without addition of dye stuff. Moreover, by the incorporation of acetone and Cellosolve (ethylene glycol monoethyl ether) in the bath streaky and spotty dyeing is avoided and fast colors of uniform shade are consistently secured.

While I have described with great particularity certain specific embodiments of the invention, it is to be understood that the details given are to be interpreted as an illustrative rather than in a limiting sense, since various modifications in detail may be made by those skilled in the art without departing from the invention as defined in the appended claims.

What I claim is:

1. An aqueous dye bath comprising a normally water insoluble dye, a monoalkyl ether of ethylene glycol, and acetone.

2. An aqueous dye bath comprising a normally water insoluble dye, ethylene glycol monoethyl ether, acetone and water.

3. The process of dyeing comprising treating the material or article to be dyed in an aqueous dye bath containing a dye normally insoluble in water, a monoalkyl ether of. ethylene glycol in 'amount sufficient to make the dye soluble in water, and a predominant amount of water.

4. The process of dyeing comprising treating the material or article to be dyed in an aqueous dye bath containing a dye normally insoluble in water, ethylene glycol monoethyl ether in amount sufficient to make the dye soluble in water, and a predominant amount of water.

5. The process of dyeing comprising treating the material or article to be dyed in an aqueous dye bath containing'a dye adapted for use on organic derivatives of cellulose and normally insoluble in water, a monoalkyl ether of ethylene glycol in amount sufiicient to make the dye soluble in water, and a predominant amount of water.

6. The process of dyeing comprising treating the material or article to be dyed in an aqueous dye bath containing a dye adapted for use on organic derivatives of cellulose and normally insoluble in water, ethylene glycol monoethylether in amount sufficient to make the dye soluble in water, and a predominant amount of water.

IDA M. SMITH. 

